Rajapaksa regime under UNHRC, Commonwealth scrutiny

On February 13, Navi Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner
for human rights, said in her annual
report to the U.N. Human Rights
Council (UNHRC) that Sri Lanka's government has not taken enough steps recommended
by its own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC). Although the
LLRC is seen as a flawed attempt to heal Sri Lanka after decades of fratricidal
conflict, last year the Human Rights Council adopted a U.S. motion calling on
the government to act on the LLRC's recommendations. President Mahinda Rajapaksa's
government ignored the resolution, but the Americans say they will make a similar
motion at this year's meeting of the 22nd session of the UNHRC, which opens
on February 25 in Geneva.

The Americans want Rajapaksa to investigate his army for
war crimes. However, under his regime, the government has become not only increasingly
authoritarian but also reacted with increasing belligerence to international
criticism. In recent years, it has lashed out at Sri Lankan citizens
who dared to be openly critical of its policies in Geneva or other overseas
forums, even charging some with treasonous behavior. Most of these targets had
dared to weigh in on the major issue last year in Geneva--how the government
acted after the defeat of the secessionist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in May
2009, after 26 years of conflict. But
there were also several people who spoke about attacks on the media, which have
taken place with perfect impunity.

How the government handles what is almost sure to be another
round of harsh criticism of its post-conflict history will be closely watched
by heads of other Commonwealth governments. In November, Colombo is scheduled
to be the venue for the biennial Commonwealth heads of Government Meeting.
There has been a steady undertow of criticism about holding the meeting there,
given all the questions about the Rajapaksa government's commitment to human
rights, reconciliation, and a free media. Britain
has already warned that it will only attend if the government can
demonstrate its commitment to uphold the Commonwealth values of good governance
and respect for human rights. Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma
recently made
a trip to Colombo to discuss the issue, and the threat of a pullout lingers.

On Friday night, the president announced that Minister of
Plantation Industries Mahinda Samarasinghe will lead the Sri Lankan delegation
in Geneva, which he has done before. The criticism that comes down on Sri Lanka
in Geneva in the coming weeks, and how Samarasinghe responds while on the world
stage, will influence the decision of Sharma and his Commonwealth colleagues. So
far, things don't look good. Journalists in Sri Lanka say the atmosphere has
thickened and that space for criticism in the media has become even more
limited than
usual. And the vicious
swipes directed at journalists in the past few years could well reverberate
with the Commonwealth.

Bob Dietz, coordinator of CPJ’s Asia Program, has reported across the continent for news outlets such as CNN and Asiaweek. He has led numerous CPJ missions, including ones to Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Follow him on Twitter @cpjasia and Facebook @ CPJ Asia Desk.

Comments

Hi Mr president of srilanka

Having killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Tamils do not think you can rest on an arm chair and keep reading your news paper. You might have been a hero when you finished the war, however you are going to become a zero very soon according to the international laws.

When one of your own people above are standing against you, how on earth could you cover your criminal records against the whole world at the Un. Please answer me you people at the realm of power in Sri Lanka? The ball is in your court Mahinda and Gotabaya!!!!